Oyster mushroom harvest

 I grew oyster mushrooms in my living room. Crazy, right? I must admit, it was a bit creepy when I first spotted the little fungus nubbins poking through the plastic bag containing the bail of straw in which mushroom spores are embedded. And awed and amazed when with each passing half day the mushrooms kept getting larger and larger. And just this past weekend, they were large enough to harvest! The instructions that came with my mushroom kit said to twist off gently so as not to disrupt the surrounding environment, but the whole mushroom family came off together and didn't want to be separated when we tried to remove them individually. Sadly, I'm on a liver cleanse until April 6 so this harvest was bequeathed to C's mother. I trust she will make something delicious with them and here's hoping for a few more harvests so I can sample them for myself!

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Hybernation food

Is it just me or does anyone else like hybernating these days? Between the cold weather and the troubled economic times it seemed easier to stay in for dinner on saturday night, although I did reluctantly end up venturing out to Ted's on College street for an apres-dinner drink.

I intended to keep this mushroom barley pie vegetarian, but when I was at St. Lawrence Market on Friday afternoon, I spied some Berkshire bacon and couldn't help but toss in a few slices. I can never say no to bacon. Sorry, vegetarians.

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Omaha, somewhere in middle America...

I traveled to Omaha, Nebraska (my hometown) this past 4 day weekend to see my Mom.  My Dad was out of town on his annual fishing trip to Oh, Canada. So it was a Girls' Weekend of shopping, eating, drinking, movie watching, Nebraska Cornhuskers & Chicago Bears football and relaxing. One of my favorite things to do when I am home, besides hang out at Mom & Dad's house, is to head to the Old Market. Mom and I ventured down on Saturday morning for the Omaha Farmer's Market, we bought croissants and blue cheese bread from Le Quartier's booth and yummy tomatoes from another. We then went to one of our favorite places for lunch in the Old Market, M's Pub. It was pretty chilly, so no alfresco dining for us. We stayed warm starting with an appetizer of one of "M's Renowned Baked Dishes". There are 3 choices of shrimp scampi, escargot or our choice, mushrooms.  They serve it in a small casserole dish and fill each spot with garlic butter and mushrooms and then melt Havarti cheese on the top of it. We couldn't wait for a picture to be taken of the Baked Dish...we know how delicious it is... 

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